Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Shriner's - Day 17 (otherwise known as the "not-so-perfect" day) - cross-post

So I guess all days can't go perfectly. And neither can all nights. And I guess that was the pre-curser to the "not-so-perfect" day. Ben had a pretty good day. Me? Not so much.
Our roommate had a rough night last night. She had full leg casts removed yesterday and last night her muscles were spasming. So she was in pain. So between 11pm and 3am, she was awake and crying A LOT. Ben never even budged, but unfortunately, I didn't get much sleep.
Once morning arrived, I was counting down the minutes until I could drop Ben off in the playroom so I could take a nice shower and have some "me" time. But first, he had OT from 8:30 to 9:30. OT is not my favourite thing. Ben seems to be completely OK with it now, but I personally find it boring. And, to be honest, for some reason, I just don't care about it. I guess I figure that Ben is not going to go his whole life not knowing how to hold a pencil, draw a straight line, or make cookies with play-doh. I'm over-simplifying things, but that's pretty much how I feel.
And then add to that, some comments today about Ben's fine motor skills not being quite age appropriate and it really put me in a bad mood. I don't know why it bothers me so much. I know his GROSS motor skills are not age appropriate and it doesn't bother me at all (well...of course, I want him to walk, but I can talk honestly with his PT's about his strengths and weaknesses and not feel like it's an attack on me). But when we move on to his FINE motor skills, I guess I just feel like I've missed something.
And plus, I'm annoyed. Ben has been followed by OT for years and we go every few months to be told "he's doing fine, come back in 3 months". Eventually, we missed his OT appointment in September and I never bother rescheduling. I mean, why bother? It just seemed like such a waste of time.

Anyways...enough on that.

So...off we go at 9:30 to the playroom. Like I said, I'm all excited for some "me" time before we head to PT at 11. But oops...I forgot. The child life worker was out this morning so parents were required to stay. Crap. So much for a shower. And a 2nd cup of coffee.
So Ben and I played with some bug game and then read like-a-million dinosaur books. This boy is dinosaur obsessed! And he knows it all...and consequently, so do I. I know more than I ever thought I would about T-Rex's, triceratops, stegosaurus, ankylosaurus, and on and on and on. We've even been learning about the 3 dinosaur periods and I even know which dinosaurs lived in which period. It's crazy. Ben's volabulary is AMAZING. We had a big conversation today about why the dinosaurs are extinct. And yes, he even used the word extinct. There's actually a really cool dinosaur book that compares each dinosaur to real life things...which really helped Ben (and me) figure out how big they really are. For example, a T-Rex was as tall as a telephone pole and his teeth were as big as bananas. Cool, eh?
At 11, we were off to PT. Where I learned that Ben wouldn't have Stephanie today, but instead another PT, Gloria. Which was fine. But not as nice. And since I was already cranky, I wasn't thrilled. His session was totally fine and he worked REALLY hard. But it wasn't the same.
The afternoon went better. A child life worker was at the playroom this afternoon as was Philip, Ben's favourite volunteer. So I finally got my "me" time which I celebrated by falling asleep on Ben's bed for an hour, before rushing off for a quick shower. And then 3pm brought pool time.

Ben was TIRED tonight. Really tired. And even cranky. Which he probably caught from me. For some reaons, this boy is OBSESSED with having a bath every night here. At home, he has a bath twice a week. But here? All he wants to do is have a bath. The issue is there is only one bath tub...for about 15 kids. And the bath tub needs to be cleaned in between each kid. Needless to say, the bath tub is a pretty popular place every evening. Ben had a pretty big meltdown when I told him that he couldn't have a bath tonight. He had one last night and I just wasn't going to fight for my place in line tonight.

So now, he's in his jammies. Watching Kipper. I'm on my cot. Tired. Even with the nap from this afternoon. And a bit annoyed that our roommates seem to spend every minute each evening on the phone. WIth about a dozen different people (yes, I'm exaggerating.)

Regardless, of my "not-so-perfect" day, Ben actually had a pretty good one. Except for the bath tub meltdown. So I shouldn't complain. But I'm really hoping for a good night's sleep tonight.

Sorry, but there are no pictures tonight. I didn't manage to really get anything good today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better picture day.

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Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have. It's about understanding that he is exactly the person he is supposed to be. And that, if you're lucky, he just might be the teacher who turns you into the person you are supposed to be. ~The Water Giver

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I'm a Part-Time Work-at-Home Mom to my twin boys, Daniel and Benjamin. They were born in September 2007 at just 30 weeks and 2 days (that's almost 10 weeks early). After 8 weeks and 1 day, we were finally able to bring them home from the hospital. A week after their first birthday, my sweet boy Ben was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. This blog is mostly about Ben's accomplishments and challenges but is also about me, my family and anything I feel like sharing. Email me at aboutthesmallstuff at hotmail dot com